Belmont biotech buildings study nearing completion

Currently, the site houses a medical office building, which would be demolished to make room for the two structures.

To comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, the report noted several aspects of the project that would have some environmental impacts but not to the degree that required significant improvement efforts.

“These are areas of study where no impacts exceeded established thresholds. It’s not that there wouldn’t be any physical change or quantitative change in some of these areas. It’s just that no established CEQA thresholds would be crossed, and therefore no mitigation measures were required,” Tad Stearn, practice builder of Development Services at Kimley Horn, said.

But there are several areas that do necessitate mitigation measures, ranging from air quality, hazardous materials, noise pollution and transportation. Some of those included reductions in glare and lighting from the site, as well as protection of biological resources and wildlife.

“We have measures to avoid areas, particularly along Belmont Creek, preconstruction surveys, protection of nesting birds with the timing of construction and, probably most importantly, just avoidance of the riparian habitat along the creek and its edge,” Stearn said.

Other mitigation efforts would include measures to potentially halt work if archaeological work is found. Developers would aim for a biosafety level of one or two, meaning microbes, agents and other organisms in the facilities would be relatively low risk.

While the Shoreway Road project would be the largest buildings currently in place, two other similarly-sized biotech developments currently sit in the pipeline. A 380,000-square-foot project on Harbor Boulevard has been approved, and another on Island Parkway campus will contain three buildings, ranging from nine to 13 stories.

All planning commissioners have shown support for the project. The public comment period opened Oct. 8 and will close Nov. 22.